Please try to keep this spoiler free. The question I'm about to ask should be a simple "yes" or "no," but if you feel the need to elaborate, please don't spoil anything for me. Thanks!

In a recent bombcast they implied that there is a pretty significant connection between Portal 2, and Half Life. What I want to know is this; Do I need to go back and play all the Half Life games through Half Life 2: Episode 2 before I play Portal 2 in order to catch/understand that connection? I mean, I know a little bit about the Half Life universe already. I know about Black Mesa, Gordon Freeman, G-man, and that Apeture Science exists somewhere in the Half Life universe. However, I've never actually played the Half Life games.

Thanks in advance!

No.

Nope

Absolutely not.

YES  :)

No.

No?

@spankingaddict said:

" YES  :) "

No not at all. They are both franchises set in the same universe but its not needed to enjoy the game.

No. The connection between them is more icing on the cake (!) for fans of Valve. It's tangential, and odds are you might not even notice it even if you've played both.

Not at all. The references are little easter eggs for fans of both series as opposed to integral cross-series plot points.

Yes. Gordon Freeman is the portal gun.

HL2:EP2 is somin you may want a look at for some sort of ship thing but if your really worried then no. On the other hand they're great so you should play them anyway.

@Tuggah said:

" Yes. Gordon Freeman is the portal gun. "

No but you should really play them anyway, they are great games.

Portal and Half-Life connection? I don't know what you're talking about.

No. The connection is very minor.

As said at this point in time it's a minor connection, could become a big thing eventually though.

Who knows when Ep 3 will turn up however...

  

It's only important if you want to know more about the world Portal takes place in. It adds something to the experience but it has little bearing on the playing of the games or their stories.

The Borealis (HLep2) Dock is in Portal 2, look at the steam acheivements.

The connection is pretty much just "Hey these two games take place in the same world" and that's it.

Black Mesa and Aperture were competitors. In HL2:E2 you are talking about the Borealis, a fabled, mysterious Ship that Aperture were working on so they could test their new experiments and you're warned you should never go there and that the ship should be destroyed (We don't know why it's so dangerous). In Portal 2, there's an easter egg of sorts where you can see the docking yard for the ship, but the ship is not there, as it's somewhere in the Arctic, at least that's where it looks to be when you see a picture of it in Half-Life 2.